Electronic device and coverage compensation method thereof for short range communication

ABSTRACT

An electronic device and communication coverage compensation method thereof for use in short range communication. An electronic device includes a housing, a radio communication circuit arranged in the housing and configured to support radio communication with a neighboring electronic device, a processor arranged in the housing and electrically connected to the radio communication circuit, a memory arranged in the housing and electrically connected to the processor, the memory storing instructions that, when cited by the processor, cause the processor to communicate with the neighboring electronic device with the radio communication circuit, change, when detecting an event triggering a change from a first symbol rate to a second symbol rate, from the first symbol rate to the second symbol rate, determine a compensation value based on a coverage range, and adjust a transmit power of the radio communication circuit based on the compensation value.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS AND CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 15/938,972,filed Mar. 28, 2018, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) toKorean Patent Application No. 10-2017-0040191, filed on Mar. 29, 2017 inthe Korean Intellectual Property Office, the entire disclosure of whichis incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

The present disclosure relates to an electronic device and coveragecompensation method thereof for short range communication.

2. Description of Related Art

Bluetooth is one of the short-range wireless communications technologiesmaking it possible for real-time data communication between electronicdevices. Since the development of Bluetooth, many versions of Bluetoothstandards have been released, and the standardization of low-powercommunication solutions has increased the application fields ofBluetooth. As with other communication technologies, in Bluetoothcommunication a data rate, low power consumption, and coverage extensionare important factors.

In comparison with the legacy Bluetooth (BT), Bluetooth low energy (BLE)as an extension of Bluetooth focused on low power is attracting growinginterest in terms of its low-power, low-cost, simplicity, and compactdesign.

Bluetooth devices have respective communication coverage rangesdetermined according to their specifications and may communicate amongeach other in overlapping coverage. For example, Bluetooth devices maybe manufactured with different Bluetooth chips to meet device-specifichardware requirements. Because of the difference in Bluetooth chip andmechanical characteristics (e.g., antenna and metal housing), the datacommunication specifications (e.g., coverage range) of the Bluetoothdevices may be different. For example, a communication standard (e.g. 1Mphysical layer (Phy)) may have a coverage range that is greater thanthat of a second communication standard (e.g., 2M Phy) and a data ratethat is less than that of the second communication standard.

It may be that a physical layer protocol changes between two Bluetoothdevices in communication, resulting in Bluetooth channel breakdown anddata communication failure.

If a predetermined condition is fulfilled in the course of communicationbetween two Bluetooth devices at the symbol rate of 1M sym/s, it may bepossible to change the physical layer protocol to increase the symbolrate to 2M sym/s. In this case, if one of the two Bluetooth devices isout of the coverage range of the other for data communication at thesymbol rate of 2M sym/s, the communication channel is broken down. Forexample, it may be possible for a device entered in the 1M sym/scommunication coverage range of another device to receive a firstinformation through a 1M sym/s communication channel and then want toreceive a second information (e.g., advertisement information) throughthe 2M sym/s communication channel. However, if the device is out of the2M sym/s communication coverage range of another device, it cannotreceive the second information.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides a Bluetooth communication method of anelectronic device that is capable of seamless Bluetooth communicationwith another electronic device in such a way that the electronic devicemakes a decision to change a symbol rate type and determine acompensation value for compensating a change of communicationspecifications caused by the change of the symbol rate type.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, an electronicdevice is provided. The electronic device includes a housing; a radiocommunication circuit arranged in the housing and configured to supportradio communication with a neighboring electronic device; at least oneprocessor arranged in the housing and electrically connected to theradio communication circuit; and a memory arranged in the housing andelectrically connected to the at least one processor, the memory storinginstructions, executable by the at least one processor, to communicatewith the neighboring electronic device with the radio communicationcircuit at a first symbol rate, change, when detecting an eventtriggering a change from the first symbol rate to a second symbol rate,from the first symbol rate to the second symbol rate, determine acompensation value based on a coverage range defined by data propagationdistance at the second symbol rate, and adjust a transmit power of theradio communication circuit based on the compensation value.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, anelectronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a housing;a radio communication circuit arranged in the housing and configured tosupport radio communication with a neighboring electronic device; atleast one processor arranged in the housing and electrically connectedto the radio communication circuit; and a memory arranged in the housingand electrically connected to at least one processor, the memory storinginstructions, executable by the at least one processor, to control theradio communication circuit for Bluetooth low energy (BLE) communicationwith a neighboring electronic device at a default symbol rate, change,when a data rate change event is detected, from the default symbol rateto a non-default symbol rate, determine a compensation value based on acoverage range defined by data propagation distance at the non-defaultsymbol rate, and adjust the transmit power of the radio communicationcircuit based on the compensation value.

Before undertaking the DETAILED DESCRIPTION below, it may beadvantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases usedthroughout this patent document: the terms “include” and “comprise,” aswell as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation; the term“or,” is inclusive, meaning and/or; the phrases “associated with” and“associated therewith,” as well as derivatives thereof, may mean toinclude, be included within, interconnect with, contain, be containedwithin, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with,cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to orwith, have, have a property of, or the like; and the term “controller”means any device, system or part thereof that controls at least oneoperation, such a device may be implemented in hardware, firmware orsoftware, or some combination of at least two of the same. It should benoted that the functionality associated with any particular controllermay be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely.

Moreover, various functions described below can be implemented orsupported by one or more computer programs, each of which is formed fromcomputer readable program code and embodied in a computer readablemedium. The terms “application” and “program” refer to one or morecomputer programs, software components, sets of instructions,procedures, functions, objects, classes, instances, related data, or aportion thereof adapted for implementation in a suitable computerreadable program code. The phrase “computer readable program code”includes any type of computer code, including source code, object code,and executable code. The phrase “computer readable medium” includes anytype of medium capable of being accessed by a computer, such as readonly memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), a hard disk drive, acompact disc (CD), a digital video disc (DVD), or any other type ofmemory. A “non-transitory” computer readable medium excludes wired,wireless, optical, or other communication links that transporttransitory electrical or other signals. A non-transitory computerreadable medium includes media where data can be permanently stored andmedia where data can be stored and later overwritten, such as arewritable optical disc or an erasable memory device.

Definitions for certain words and phrases are provided throughout thispatent document. Those of ordinary skill in the art should understandthat in many, if not most instances, such definitions apply to prior, aswell as future uses of such defined words and phrases.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure and itsadvantages, reference is now made to the following description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencenumerals represent like parts:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating electronic devices in a networkenvironment according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an electronicdevice according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a programmodule according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating packet sequence per symbolrate type in low-power Bluetooth communication according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a signal flow diagram illustrating signal flows between twoelectronic devices in a BLE communication coverage compensation methodaccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a BLE communication coveragecompensation method of an electronic device according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a signal flow diagram illustrating signal flows between twoelectronic devices in a BLE communication coverage compensation methodaccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a Bluetooth communication coveragecompensation method of an electronic device according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a BLE communication compensationmethod of an electronic device according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating coverage compensation-relatedoperation timings of an electronic device according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a graph illustrating waveforms of signals transmitted by anelectronic device at different symbol rates with different coverageranges according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating coverage ranges for twosymbol rates according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 13 is a signal flow diagram illustrating signals flows between aprocessor and a Bluetooth module in a BLE communication coveragecompensation method of an electronic device according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 14 is a signal flow diagram illustrating signal flows between twoelectronic devices in a BLE communication coverage compensation methodaccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1 through 14, discussed below, and the various embodiments used todescribe the principles of the present disclosure in this patentdocument are by way of illustration only and should not be construed inany way to limit the scope of the disclosure. Those skilled in the artwill understand that the principles of the present disclosure may beimplemented in any suitably arranged system or device.

Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present disclosure will bedescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, itshould be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to thespecific embodiments described hereinafter, but includes variousmodifications, equivalents, and/or alternatives of the embodiments ofthe present disclosure. In the drawings, similar drawing referencenumerals may be used for similar constituent elements. A singularexpression may include a plural expression unless specially described.

In the description, the term “A or B” or “at least one of A and/or B”includes all possible combinations of words enumerated together. Theterms “first” and “second” may describe various constituent elements,but they do not limit the corresponding constituent elements. Forexample, the above-described terms do not limit the order and/orimportance of the corresponding constituent elements, but may be used todifferentiate a constituent element from other constituent elements.When it is described that an (e.g., first) element is “connected” or“coupled” to another (e.g., second) element (e.g., functionally orcommunicatively), the element may be “directly connected” to the otherelement or “connected” to the other element through another (e.g.,third) element.

The terms used in describing the various embodiments of the presentdisclosure are for the purpose of describing particular embodiments andare not intended to limit the present disclosure. As used herein, thesingular forms are intended to include the plural forms as well, unlessthe context clearly indicates otherwise. All of the terms used hereinincluding technical or scientific terms have the same meanings as thosegenerally understood by an ordinary skilled person in the related artunless they are defined otherwise. The terms defined in a generally useddictionary should be interpreted as having the same or similar meaningsas the contextual meanings of the relevant technology and should not beinterpreted as having ideal or exaggerated meanings unless they areclearly defined herein. According to circumstances, even the termsdefined in this disclosure should not be interpreted as excluding theembodiments of the present disclosure

Hereinafter, an electronic device will be described with reference tothe accompanying drawings. In the present disclosure, the term “user”may indicate a person using an electronic device or a device (e.g., anartificial intelligence electronic device) using an electronic device.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a network environment 100 including anelectronic device 101, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The electronic device 101 includes a bus 110, a processor120, a memory 130, an input/output (I/O) interface 150, a display 160,and a communication interface 170.

The bus 110 may be a circuit connecting the above described componentsand transmitting communication (e.g., a control message) between theabove described components. The processor 120 may receive commands fromother components (e.g., the memory 130, the input/output interface 150,the display 160, or the communication interface 170) through the bus110, analyze the received commands, and execute calculation or dataprocessing according to the analyzed commands.

The memory 130 may store commands or data received from the processor120 or other components (e.g., the input/output interface 150, thedisplay 160, or the communication interface 170) or generated by theprocessor 120 or other components. The memory 130 may includeprogramming modules, for example, a kernel 141, middleware 143, anApplication Programming Interface (API) 145, or an application 147. Eachof the aforementioned programming modules may be implemented bysoftware, firmware, hardware, or a combination of two or more thereof.

The kernel 141 may control or manage system resources (e.g., the bus110, processor 120, memory 130, etc.) used to execute operations orfunctions of the programming modules, e.g., the middleware 143, API 145,and application 147. The kernel 141 may also provide an interface thatmay access and control/manage the components of the electronic device101 via the middleware 143, API 145, and application 147.

The middleware 143 may make it possible for the API 145 or application147 to perform data communication with the kernel 141. The middleware143 may also perform control operations (e.g., scheduling, loadbalancing) for task requests transmitted from the API 145 by methods,e.g., a method for assigning the order of priority to use the systemresources (e.g., the bus 110, processor 120, memory 130, etc.), of theelectronic device 101 to the application 147.

The API 145 is the interface for the application 147 to control thefunction provided by the kernel 141 or the middleware 143 and mayinclude at least one interface or function (e.g. command) for filecontrol, window control, image control, or text control.

The I/O interface 150 may receive a command or data as input from a uservia in-output apparatus (e.g., sensor, keyboard, or touchscreen, or thelike) and may deliver the received command or data to the processor 120or the memory 130 through the bus 110. The I/O interface 150 may displaya video, an image, data, or the like to the user.

The display 160 may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), an active matrixorganic light emitting diode (AM-OLED) display, microelectromechanicalsystems (MEMS), electronic paper display and the like. The display 160may include the touch panel. The display 160 may display the receivedvarious information (e.g., multi-media data, text data) from theabove-described elements.

The communication interface 170 may connect communication between theelectronic device 101 and an electronic device 104 or server 106. Forexample, the communication interface 170 may access a network 162through wireless or wired communication to communicate with the externaldevice. The wireless communication may include at least one ofwireless-fidelity (WiFi), Bluetooth (BT), near field communication(NFC), a global positioning system (GPS), or cellular communication(e.g., long-term evolution (LTE), LTE-advanced (LTE-A), code divisionmultiple access (CDMA), wideband CDMA (WCDMA), universal mobiletelecommunications system (UMTS), wireless broadband (WiBro) or globalsystem for mobile communications (GSM)). The wired communication mayinclude at least one of, for example, a universal serial bus (USB), ahigh definition multimedia interface (HDMI), recommended standard 232(RS-232), or a plain old telephone service (POTS).

The wireless communication may include global navigation satellitesystem (GNSS). The GNSS may include at least one of, for example, aglobal positioning system (GPS), a global navigation satellite system(Glonass), a navigation satellite system (Beidou), or a European globalsatellite-based navigation system (Galileo), according to a use area, abandwidth, or the like.

According to an embodiment, the wireless communication includes a shortrange wireless communication 164, such as WiFi, BT, BT low energy (BLE),NFC, or the like. The communication interface 170 may connectcommunication between the electronic device 101 and an electronic device102 through the short rage wireless communication 164.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device 201,according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The electronicdevice 201 may include some or all of the parts of the electronic device101 illustrated in FIG. 1. The electronic device 201 may include one ormore application processors (APs) 210, a communication module 220, asubscriber identification module (SIM) 224, a memory 230, a sensormodule 240, an input device 250, a display 260, an interface 270, anaudio module 280, a camera module 291, a power managing module 295, abattery 296, an indicator 297, and a motor 298.

The AP 210 operates an operation system or an application program so asto control a plurality of hardware or software component elementsconnected to the AP 210 and execute various data processing andcalculations including multimedia data. The AP 210 may be implemented bya System on Chip (SoC). The AP 210 may further include a graphicprocessing unit (GPU).

The communication module 220 may transmit/receive data in communicationbetween different electronic devices (e.g., the electronic device 104and the server 106 connected to the electronic device 201) through anetwork. The communication module 220 may include a cellular module 221,a WiFi module 223, a BT module 225, a GPS module 227, an NFC module 228,and a radio frequency (RF) module 229.

The cellular module 221 may provide a voice call, a video call, a shortmessage service (SMS), or an Internet service through a communicationnetwork (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, CDMA, WCDMA, UMTS, WiBro, GSM or the like).Further, the cellular module 221 may distinguish and authenticateelectronic devices within a communication network by using the SIM 224.The cellular module 221 may perform at least some of the functions whichcan be provided by the AP 210 and may perform at least some of themultimedia control functions.

The cellular module 221 may include a communication processor (CP), andmay be implemented by an SoC.

Although the components such as the cellular module 221 (e.g., a CP),the memory 230, and the power managing module 295 are illustrated ascomponents separated from the AP 210 in FIG. 2, the AP 210 may includeat least some (e.g., cellular module 221) of the aforementionedcomponents in one embodiment.

The AP 210 or the cellular module 221 may load a command or datareceived from at least one of a non-volatile memory and other componentsconnected to each of the AP 210 and the cellular module 221 to avolatile memory and process the loaded command or data. Further, the AP210 or the cellular module 221 may store data received from at least oneof other components or generated by at least one of other components ina non-volatile memory.

Each of the WiFi module 223, the BT module 225, the GPS module 227, andthe NFC module 228 may include a process for processing datatransmitted/received through the corresponding module. Although thecellular module 221, the WiFi module 223, the BT module 225, the GPSmodule 227, and the NFC module 228 are illustrated as blocks separatedfrom each other in FIG. 2, at least some (e.g., two or more) of thecellular module 221, the WiFi module 223, the BT module 225, the GPSmodule 227, and the NFC module 228 may be included in one integratedchip (IC) or one IC package. For example, at least some (e.g., the CPcorresponding to the cellular module 221 and the WiFi processorcorresponding to the WiFi module 223) of the processors corresponding tothe cellular module 1, the WiFi module 223, the BT module 225, the GPSmodule 227, and the NFC module 228 may be implemented by one SoC.

The RF module 229 may transmit/receive data, e.g., an RF signal.Although not illustrated, the RF module 229 may include a transceiver, apower amplifier module (PAM), a frequency filter, a low noise amplifier(LNA) or the like. Further, the RF module 229 may further include acomponent for transmitting/receiving electronic waves over a free airspace in wireless communication, e.g., a conductor, a conducting wire orthe like. Although the cellular module 221, the WiFi module 223, the BTmodule 5, the GPS module 227, and the NFC module 228 share one RF module229 in FIG. 2, at least one of the cellular module 221, the WiFi module223, the BT module 225, the GPS module 227, and the NFC module 228 maytransmit/receive an RF signal through a separate RF module.

The SIM 224 may be inserted into a slot formed in a particular portionof the electronic device 201. The SIM 224 may include uniqueidentification information (e.g., integrated circuit card identifier(ICCID)) or subscriber information (e.g., international mobilesubscriber identity (IMSI).

The memory 230 may include an internal memory 232 or an external memory234. The internal memory 232 may include at least one of a volatilememory (e.g., a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a static RAM(SRAM), a synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), and the like), and anon-volatile memory (e.g., a one-time programmable read only memory(OTPROM), a programmable ROM (PROM), an erasable and programmable ROM(EPROM), an electrically erasable and programmable ROM (EEPROM), a maskROM, a flash ROM, a NAND flash memory, an NOR flash memory, and thelike).

The internal memory 232 may be a solid state drive (SSD). The externalmemory 234 may further include a flash drive, for example, a compactflash (CF), a secure digital (SD), a micro secure digital (Micro-SD), amini secure digital (Mini-SD), an extreme digital (xD), or a memorystick. The external memory 234 may be functionally connected to theelectronic device 201 through various interfaces. The electronic device201 may further include a storage device (or storage medium) such as ahard drive.

The sensor module 240 may measure a physical quantity or detect anoperation state of the electronic device 201, and convert the measuredor detected information to an electronic signal. The sensor module 240may include at least one of a gesture sensor 240A, a gyro sensor 240B,an atmospheric pressure sensor 240C, a magnetic sensor 240D, anacceleration sensor 240E, a grip sensor 240F, a proximity sensor 240G, acolor sensor 240H (e.g., red, green, and blue (RGB) sensor) 240H, abiometric sensor 240I, a temperature/humidity sensor 240J, anillumination sensor 240K, and an ultra violet (UV) sensor 240M.Additionally or alternatively, the sensor module 240 may include, forexample, an e-nose sensor, an electromyography (EMG) sensor, anelectroencephalogram (EEG) sensor, an electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor, aninfrared (IR) sensor, an iris sensor, a fingerprint sensor, and thelike. The sensor module 240 may further include a control circuit forcontrolling one or more sensors included in the sensor module 240.

The input device 250 may include a touch panel 252, a (digital) pensensor 254, a key 256, or an ultrasonic input device 258. The touchpanel 252 may recognize a touch input in at least one type of acapacitive type, a resistive type, an infrared type, and an acousticwave type. The touch panel 252 may further include a control circuit. Inthe capacitive type, the touch panel 252 can recognize proximity as wellas a direct touch. The touch panel 252 may further include a tactilelayer. In this event, the touch panel 252 may provide a tactile reactionto the user.

The (digital) pen sensor 254 may be implemented using a method identicalor similar to a method of receiving a touch input of the user, or usinga separate recognition sheet. The key 256 may include a physical button,an optical key, or a key pad. The ultrasonic input device 258 is adevice which can detect an acoustic wave by a microphone 288 of theelectronic device 201 through an input means generating an ultrasonicsignal to identify data and can perform wireless recognition. Theelectronic device 201 may receive a user input from an external device(e.g., computer or server) connected to the electronic device 201 byusing the communication module 220.

The display 260 may include a panel 262, a hologram device 264, or aprojector 266. The panel 262 may be an LCD or an AM-OLED. The panel 262may be flexible, transparent, or wearable. The panel 262 may beconfigured by the touch panel 252 and one other module. The hologramdevice 264 may show a stereoscopic image in the air by usinginterference of light. The projector 266 may project light on a screento display an image. The screen may be located inside or outside theelectronic device 201. The display 260 may further include a controlcircuit for controlling the panel 262, the hologram device 264, or theprojector 266. The interface 270 may include an HDMI 272, a USB 274, anoptical interface 276, or a d-subminiature (D-sub) 278. The interface270 may be included in the communication interface 170 illustrated inFIG. 1. Additionally or alternatively, the interface 270 may include amobile high-definition link (MHL) interface, a secure digital (SD)card/multi-media card (MMC), or an IR data association (IrDA) standardinterface.

The audio module 280 may hi-directionally convert a sound and anelectronic signal. At least some components of the audio module 280 maybe included in the input/output interface 150 illustrated in FIG. 1. Theaudio module 280 may process sound information input or output through,for example, a speaker 282, a receiver 284, an earphone 286, themicrophone 288 or the like.

The camera module 291 is a device which can photograph a still image anda video. The camera module 291 may include one or more image sensors(e.g., a front sensor or a back sensor), an image signal processor (ISP)or a flash (e.g., an LED or xenon lamp).

The power managing module 295 may manage power of the electronic device201. Although not illustrated, the power managing module 295 may includea power management integrated circuit (PMIC), a charger integratedcircuit (IC), or a battery gauge.

The PMIC may be mounted to an integrated circuit or an SoC. A chargingmethod may include wired and wireless methods. The charger IC may chargea battery and prevent over voltage or over current from being flowedfrom a charger. The charger IC may include a charger IC for at least oneof the wired charging method and the wireless charging method. Thewireless charging method may include a magnetic resonance method, amagnetic induction method and an electromagnetic wave method, andadditional circuits for wireless charging, e.g., circuits such as a coilloop, a resonant circuit, a rectifier or the like may be added.

The battery gauge may measure a remaining quantity of the battery 296,or a voltage, a current, or a temperature during the charging. Thebattery 296 may store or generate electricity and supply power to theelectronic device 201 by using the stored or generated electricity. Thebattery 296 may include a rechargeable battery or a solar battery.

The indicator 297 may show particular statuses of the electronic device201 or a part (e.g., AP 210) of the hardware, e.g., a booting status, amessage status, a charging status and the like. The motor 298 mayconvert an electrical signal to a mechanical vibration.

Although not illustrated, the electronic device 201 may include aprocessing unit (e.g., GPU) for supporting a module TV. The processingunit for supporting the mobile TV may process media data according to astandard of digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB), digital videobroadcasting (DVB), media flow or the like.

Each of the components of the electronic device 201 may be implementedby one or more components and the name of the corresponding componentmay vary depending on a type of the electronic device. The electronicdevice 201 may include at least one of the above described components, afew of the components may be omitted, or an additional component may befurther included. Also, some of the components of the electronic device201 may be combined to form a single entity, and thus may equivalentlyexecute functions of the corresponding components before being combined.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a programming module 310,according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The programmingmodule 310 may be included (stored) in the electronic device 101 (e.g.,memory 130) illustrated in FIG. 1. At least some of the programmingmodule 310 may be formed of software, firmware, hardware, or acombination of at least two of software, firmware, and hardware. Theprogramming module 310 may be executed in the hardware (e.g., electronicdevice 201) to include an operating system (OS) controlling resourcesrelated to the electronic device 101 or various applications driving onthe OS. For example, the OS may be Android™, iOS™, Windows™, Symbian™,Tizen™, Bada™ or the like. Referring to FIG. 3, the programming module310 may include a kernel 320, a middleware 330, an API 360, or anapplication 370.

The kernel 320 may include a system resource manager 321 or a devicedriver 323. The system resource manager 321 may include a processmanager, a memory manager, or a file system manager. The system resourcemanager 321 may perform a system resource control, allocation, orrecall. The device driver 323 may include a display driver, a cameradriver, a BT driver, a shared memory driver, a USB driver, a keypaddriver, a WiFi driver, or an audio driver. Further, the device driver323 may include an inter-process communication (IPC) driver.

The middleware 330 may include a plurality of modules to provide afunction used in common by the applications 370. Further, the middleware330 may provide a function through the API 360 to allow the application370 to efficiently use limited system resources within the electronicdevice. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the middleware 330 mayinclude at least one of a runtime library 335, an application manager341, a window manager 342, a multimedia manager 343, a resource manager344, a power manager 345, a database manager 346, a package manager 347,a connection manager 348, a notification manager 349, a location manager350, a graphic manager 351, and a security manager 352.

The runtime library 335 may include a library module used by a complierto add a new function through a programming language while theapplication 370 is executed. The runtime library 335 may execute inputand output, management of a memory, a function associated with anarithmetic function or the like.

The application manager 341 may manage a life cycle of at least one ofthe applications 370. The window manager 342 may manage GUI resourcesused on the screen. The multimedia manager 343 may detect a format usedfor reproducing various media files and perform an encoding or adecoding of a media file by using a codec suitable for the correspondingformat. The resource manager 344 may manage resources such as a sourcecode, a memory, or a storage space of at least one of the applications370.

The power manager 345 may operate together with a basic input/outputsystem (BIOS) to manage a battery or power and provide power informationused for the operation. The database manager 346 may manage generation,search, or change of a database to be used by at least one of theapplications 370. The package manager 347 may manage an installation oran update of an application distributed in a form of a package file.

The connection manager 348 may manage a wireless connection such as WiFior BT. The notification manager 349 may display or notify a user of anevent such as an arrival message, an appointment, a proximity alarm orthe like, in a manner that does not disturb the user. The locationmanager 350 may manage location information of the electronic device.The graphic manager 351 may manage a graphic effect provided to the useror a user interface related to the graphic effect. The security manager352 may provide a general security function used for a system securityor a user authentication. When the electronic device 101 has a callfunction, the middleware 330 may further include a telephony manager formanaging a voice of the electronic device or a video call function.

The middleware 330 may generate a new middleware module through acombination of various functions of the aforementioned internalcomponent modules and use the generated new middleware module. Themiddleware 330 may provide a module specified for each type of operatingsystem to provide a differentiated function. Further, the middleware 330may dynamically delete some of the conventional components or add newcomponents. Accordingly, some of the components may be omitted, replacedwith other components having different names but performing similarfunctions, or other components may be further included.

The API 360 is a set of API programming functions, and may be providedwith a different configuration according to an OS. For example, inAndroid™ or iOS™, a single API set may be provided for each platform. InTizen™, two or more API sets may be provided.

The applications 370 may include a preloaded application or a thirdparty application.

At least some of the programming module 310 may be implemented by acommand stored in a computer-readable storage medium. When the commandis executed by one or more APs 210, the one or more processors mayperform a function corresponding to the command. The computer-readablestorage medium may be, for example, the memory 230. At least some of theprogramming module 310 may be implemented or executed by, for example,the AP 210. At least some of the programming module 310 may include, forexample, a module, a program, a routine, sets of instructions, or aprocess for performing one or more functions.

Names of components of the programming module 310 may vary depending ona type of operating system. Further, the programming module may includeone or more of the aforementioned components, omit some of thecomponents, or further include other additional components.

The applications 370 may include one or more applications that canperform functions, such as home application 371, dialer application 372,SMS/MMS application 373, instant message application (IM) 374, browserapplication 375, camera application 376, alarm application 377, contactsapplication 378, voice dial application 379, e-mail application 380,calendar application 381, media player application 382, albumapplication 383, clock application 384, health care (e.g., measureexercise quantity or blood sugar level), or environment information(e.g., atmospheric pressure, humidity, temperature information or thelike).

Hereinafter, an illustration of a configuration of an electronic devicehaving a BT or BLE module will be described. It is to be noted that thetechnology disclosed herein is applicable to other radio communicationtechnologies, especially those having different coverage specifications,though the following description is directed to the Bluetoothtechnology.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, anelectronic device (e.g., electronic device 101 of FIG. 1 and electronicdevice 201 of FIG. 2) may be paired with another Bluetooth-enabledelectronic device (e.g., electronic device 102 of FIG. 1) by means ofits Bluetooth module. For this purpose, the Bluetooth module of theelectronic device 101 may broadcast an inquiry signal for searching forother Bluetooth devices or a paging signal to request for connection orscan for receiving a signal broadcast by other electronic devices.According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device 101 may include at least one of a Bluetooth (BT)module and a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) module implemented into a singlechip or separate chips, but the present disclosure is not limitedthereto.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronicdevice 101 with the BLE communication capability may establish aconnection with a neighboring electronic device 102 through a pairingoperation. The electronic device 101 may operate as a transmitter forbroadcasting a signal (e.g., broadcast mode) and as a receiver forreceiving a signal broadcast by the neighboring electronic device 102(e.g., scan mode) and, although described as one of transmitting orreceiving node in the following description, the operation of theelectronic device 101 is not limited thereto.

For example, the connection between the electronic devices 101 and 102may be established in such a way that the electronic device 101 performsBLE scanning to receive an advertisement signal broadcast by theneighboring electronic device 102 and, if it is determined thatneighboring electronic device 102 is connectable based on theadvertisement signal, transmits a connection request signal to theneighboring electronic device 102. The neighboring electronic device 102may establish a connection with the electronic device 101 which hastransmitted the connection request signal.

Meanwhile, the electronic device 101 may exchange signals through abroadcasting channel or an advertising channel before completingconnection establishment with the neighboring electronic device 102.

BLE is a Bluetooth technology that enables low-power data communicationat a low-data rate in the 2.4 GHz frequency band. The electronic device101 may use 40 channels for communication in the 2.4 GHz band. Theelectronic device 101 may use some of the 40 channels as broadcasting oradvertising channels and the remaining channels as data channels.

The broadcasting channels may be used to exchange packets with theneighboring electronic device 102 to transmit an advertising packet orestablish a connection to the neighboring electronic device 102. Thedata channels may be used to communicate data packets after theconnection with the neighboring electronic device 102 has beenestablished.

The broadcasting channels may be categorized into two categories:physical channel supporting 1M sym/s symbol rate communication andphysical channel supporting 2M sym/s symbol rate communication. Theelectronic device 101 may support the 1M sym/s symbol rate communicationas default and the 2M sym/s symbol rate communication as optional.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating packet sequence per symbolrate type in low-power Bluetooth communication according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

In reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B, the electronic device 101 (e.g.,electronic device 101 of FIG. 1 and electronic device 201 of FIG. 2) maybroadcast an advertising packet for advertising its presence at apredetermined interval for BLE communication. For example, theadvertising packet is a packet transmitted at the first type symbolrate, e.g., 1M sym/s, as a default symbol rate. The operation oftransmitting or receiving an advertising packet is performed when theelectronic devices 101 and 102 are in a connectionless state.

As shown in FIG. 4A, the electronic device 101 may broadcast anadvertising packet at the symbol rate of 1M sym/s as denoted byreference number 410. If another electronic device 102 is located withinthe coverage range of the electronic device 101, the neighboringelectronic device 102 may transmit a connection request to theelectronic device 101 for BLE communication at the first symbol rate(i.e., 1M sym/s) in response to the advertising packet.

The electronic device 101 may receive the connection request transmittedby the neighboring electronic device 102 as denoted by reference number420. Upon receipt of the connection request, the electronic device 101may establish a first symbol rate communication link with theneighboring electronic device 102. Here, the electronic devices 101 and102 may perform a connection provisioning operation for identifying BLEcommunication profiles and functions.

The electronic devices 101 and 102 may complete establishment of thefirst symbol rate (i.e., 1M sym/s) communication link through the mutualconnection provisioning operation. The electronic devices 101 and 102may exchange data at the first symbol rate (i.e., 1M sym/s).

In the embodiment of FIG. 4B, the electronic device 101 may broadcast anadvertising packet including information on the symbol rate of 1M sym/sor 2M sym/s. If another electronic device 102 receives the advertisingpacket, the electronic device 102 can assume that the advertising packetis followed by data transmitted at the symbol rate of 1M sym/s or 2Msym/s based on the information included therein. For example, theadvertising packet transmitted by the electronic device 101 may includeat least one of next advertising packet time information, channelinformation, and symbol rate type information.

For example, the electronic device 101 may broadcast an advertisingpacket at the first symbol rate (i.e., 1M sym/s) as denoted by referencenumber 430. If the electronic device 101 uses an extended broadcasting(advertising extension) packet for BLE communication, the advertisingpacket transmitted by the electronic device 101 may include theinformation indicating that the next advertising packet is transmittedat the symbol rate of 2M sym/s.

If another electronic device 102 receives the advertising packettransmitted at the first symbol rate (i.e., 1M sym/s), the electronicdevice 102 can assume that the advertising packet is followed by anadvertising packet transmitted at the second symbol rate (i.e., 2Msym/s) based on the information included therein.

The electronic device 101 may broadcast the advertising packet at thesecond symbol rate (i.e., 2M sym/s) as denoted by reference number 440.Upon receipt of the advertising packet as denoted by reference number440, the neighboring electronic device 102 may transmit a connectionrequest to the electronic device 101 for communication at the secondsymbol rate (e.g., 2M sym/s).

The electronic device 101 may receive the connection request transmittedby the neighboring electronic device 102 as denoted by reference number450. In response to the connection request, the electronic device 101may transmit a connection response for confirming establishment of thesecond symbol rate communication link as denoted by reference number460. After transmitting the connection response, the electronic device101 may perform a second symbol rate communication provisioningoperation to establish the second symbol rate communication link withthe neighboring electronic device 102.

Hereinafter, a description is made of a coverage compensation method forcompensating for coverage mismatch caused by a change of symbol ratetype of the BLE communication according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a signal flow diagram illustrating signal flows between twoelectronic devices in a BLE communication coverage compensation methodaccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

In the embodiment of FIG. 5, an electronic device 501 (e.g., electronicdevice 101 of FIG. 1 and electronic device 201 of FIG. 2) may change thesymbol rate in the course of communication with a neighboring electronicdevice 502 (e.g., electronic device 102 of FIG. 1) and, in this case,compensate its coverage range as the data propagation distance.

The neighboring electronic device 502 may broadcast a BLE communicationrequest signal periodically at step 510. The neighboring electronicdevice 502 may broadcast an advertising packet (e.g., connectableadvertising packet) for advertising its presence at a predeterminedinterval.

If the advertising packet transmitted by the neighboring electronicdevice 502 is received by the electronic device 501, the electronicdevice 501 may transmit a connection request to the neighboringelectronic device 502 at step 515.

The electronic device 501 may establish a connection with theneighboring electronic device 502 at step 520. For example, theconnection between the two electronic devices 501 and 502 is establishedwhen the neighboring electronic device 502 receives the connectionrequest transmitted by the electronic device 501.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, both theelectronic devices 501 and 502 may use a first type symbol rate (i.e.,1M sym/s) broadcasting channel for Bluetooth communication. Theneighboring electronic device 502 may use the first type symbol rate(i.e., 1M sym/s) broadcasting channel for advertisement, and theelectronic device 501 may also use the first type symbol rate (i.e., 1Msym/s) broadcasting channel for a connection request to the neighboringelectronic device 502. Upon receipt of the connection request from theelectronic device 501, the neighboring electronic device 502 maytransition to a connected state for data communication with theelectronic device 501.

The electronic device 501 may inquire to the neighboring electronicdevice 502 about the functions associated with BLE communication at step530. For example, the electronic device 501 may inquire about allsupporting profiles related to the BLE communication, e.g., whether theneighboring electronic device 502 supports arbitrary address change,data packet length extension, 2M sym/s symbol rate, and packetextension, and whether the neighboring electronic device is in theactivated state for communication.

At step 535, the neighboring electronic device 502 may transmit theinformation on the functions it supports for BLE communication based onits specification in response to the function inquiry.

The electronic device 501 may identify, at step 540, the functionssupported by the neighboring electronic device 502 based on at leastpart of the received information. For example, the electronic device 501may determine whether the neighboring electronic device 502 supports thesecond symbol rate (i.e., 2M sym/s) communication based on at least partof the inquiry result from the neighboring electronic device 502.

At step 545, the electronic device 501 may transmit a symbol rate changerequest signal to the neighboring electronic device 502 to determinewhether the neighboring electronic device 502 can change its symbol rateto the symbol rate desired by the electronic device 501. For example,the symbol rate change request signal may include the informationindicative of change from the first to second symbol rate or on thecondition for changing from the first to second symbol rate.

At step 550, the neighboring electronic device 502 may transmit a symbolrate change response signal including information on the symbol rates itsupports. For example, the symbol rate change response signaltransmitted by the neighboring electronic device 502 may include thesymbol rates that are determined as supportable based on its statusinformation (e.g., residual battery power, currently running applicationstatus, and user settings).

For example, if the electronic device 501 transmits the information onthe condition for changing the symbol rate, the neighboring electronicdevice 502 may transmit the symbol rate change response signal includingthe information on a change value (e.g., transmit power value andreceive power value) determined based on the condition information forchanging the symbol rate.

At step 560, the electronic device 501 may transmit a confirmationsignal to the neighboring electronic device 502 to confirm the symbolrate change to the second symbol rate (i.e., 2M sym/s).

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the changevalue for symbol rate change to the second symbol rate (i.e., 2M sym/s)is received from the neighboring electronic device 502, the electronicdevice 501 may control such that the symbol rate is changed to thesecond symbol rate (i.e. 2M sym/s) based on the change value.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronicdevice 501 may transmit to the neighboring electronic device 502 thesymbol rate change request signal to request for symbol rate change tothe second symbol rate based on the functions supported by theneighboring electronic device 502, as identified at step 540.

Although steps 540 and 560 have been described under the assumption thatthe electronic device 501 requests to the neighboring electronic device502 for symbol rate change, the present disclosure is not limitedthereto, and it may include the case where the neighboring electronicdevice 502 requests to the electronic device 501 for symbol rate change.In embodiments where the neighboring electronic device 502 requests forsymbol rate change, the neighboring electronic device 502 may become theinitiator of the process of steps 530 to 560, and some of steps 530 to560 may be partly omitted. For example, if it is necessary to change thesymbol rate, the neighboring electronic device 502 may transmit to theelectronic device 502 a signal to request for changing to the secondsymbol rate (i.e., 2M sym/s) and, in response to the request signal, theelectronic device 501 may transmit to the neighboring electronic device502 a response signal indicative of accepting the request, whereby thesymbol rate change being confirmed between the two electronic device 501and 502.

At step 570, the electronic devices 501 and 502 may change the symbolrate. For example, the electronic devices 501 and 502 may switch fromthe first type symbol rate (i.e., 1M sym/s) communication to the secondtype symbol rate (2M sym/s) communication.

At step 580, the electronic device 501 may determine whether coveragecompensation is necessary for the symbol rate change. For example, inthe case of changing to the second symbol rate (i.e., 2M sym/s), theelectronic device 501 may determine the coverage compensation necessitywhen detecting at least one of the following events: requesting symbolrate from the first symbol rate (i.e., 1M sym/s) to the second symbolrate (i.e., 2M sym/s), detecting that the second symbol rate BLEcommunication has a higher priority, detecting that the retransmissionrate in the first type symbol rate (i.e., 1M sym/s) communication isgreater than a predetermined value, and detecting that the receivedsignal strength measured in the first type symbol rate (i.e., 1M sym/s)communication is less than a predetermined value.

At step 590, the electronic device 501 may determine a compensationvalue for use in coverage compensation for the symbol rate change. Forexample, the electronic device 501 may determine a difference ofsensitivity between the first type symbol rate (i.e., 1M sym/s) and thesecond type symbol rate (i.e., 2M sym/s) as the compensation value andadd the compensation value to the transmit (TX) power to determine a TXpower value. The electronic device 501 may control the TX power forBluetooth communication using the compensation value.

Steps 580 and 590 may be performed before the symbol rate change, i.e.,step 570, or after the symbol rate change as depicted in the drawing.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device 501 may perform the coverage compensation necessitydetermination operation of step 580 repetitively or in real time afterthe symbol rate change.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronicdevice 502 may perform the coverage compensation necessity determinationoperation after the symbol rate change in the same manner as theelectronic device 501.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a BLE communication coveragecompensation method of an electronic device according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

In reference to FIG. 6, an electronic device (e.g., electronic device101 of FIG. 1 and electronic device 201 of FIG. 2) may perform BLEcommunication with a neighboring electronic device (e.g., electronicdevice 102 of FIG. 1) at a first symbol rate (e.g., 1M sym/s) at step610.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, at step 610, theelectronic device 101 may exchange BLE data packets with the neighboringelectronic device 102 through the BLE communication. Although thedescription is directed to the operation of the electronic device 101 asthe main operation entity, the coverage compensation necessity detectionand compensation value determination operations may be performed by aprocessor (e.g., processor 120 of FIG. 1 and AP 210 of FIG. 2) or a BTmodule (e.g., BT module 225 of FIG. 2) independently or cooperatively,and the communication channel establishment with the neighboringelectronic device 102 and data communication may be performed by the BTmodule 225.

At step 620, the electronic device 101 may detect a symbol rate changeevent According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the symbolrate change event occurs when the electronic device 101 reduces theelectric current for transmission or increases a data rate to avoidinterference from another radio communication device operating in the2.4 GHz band on the condition that the electronic device 101 supportsthe 2M sym/s transmission. Examples of the symbol rate change event mayinclude an event requesting for transmitting or receiving data greaterthan a predetermined size, advertisement data transmission or receptionevent, user input requesting for change to the second symbol rate, datarate increase request event, and additional data exchange request eventafter receipt of advertisement data.

At step 630, the electronic device 101 may determine whether coveragecompensation is necessary for symbol rate change upon detection of thesymbol rate change event. For example, the electronic device 101 maydetermine the coverage compensation necessity when detecting at leastone of the following events: detecting an event requesting symbol ratefrom the first symbol rate (i.e., 1M sym/s) to the second symbol rate(i.e., 2M sym/s), detecting that the second symbol rate BLEcommunication has a higher priority, detecting that the retransmissionrate in the first type symbol rate (i.e., 1M sym/s) communication isgreater than a predetermined value, and detecting that the receivedsignal strength measured in the first type symbol rate (i.e., 1M sym/s)communication is less than a predetermined value.

If it is determined at step 630 that coverage compensation is necessary,the electronic device 101 may determine at step 640 a compensation valuefor coverage compensation. The electronic device 101 may determine thesensitivity difference between the first type symbol rate of 1M sym/sand the second type symbol rate of 2M sym/s as the compensation valueand add or subtract (or remove) the compensation value to and from theTX power to determine a TX power value. For example, the electronicdevice 101 may add the compensation value of about 2 dBm for the case ofchange from 1M sym/s to 2M sym/s and subtract the compensation value ofabout 2 dBm for the case of change from 2M sym/s to 1M sym/s.

At step 650, the electronic device 101 may determine to increase the TXpower value based on the compensation value. The electronic device 101may control the TX power for Bluetooth communication based on thecompensation value.

At step 660, the electronic device 101 may perform BLE communication atthe second symbol rate (i.e., 2M sym/s) with the increase of TX powervalue.

If it is determined at step 630 that coverage compensation is notnecessary, the procedure jumps to step 660, at which step the electronicdevice 101 performs BLE communication at the second symbol rate.

At step 670, the electronic device 101 may determine whether thecommunication is terminated. If it is determined that the communicationis terminated, the electronic device 101 ends the process; if it isdetermined that the communication is not terminated, the procedurereturns to step 630, at which step the electronic device 101 determineswhether coverage compensation is necessary for the subsequent steps(steps 630 to 670) periodically or in real time.

FIG. 7 is a signal flow diagram illustrating signal flows between twoelectronic devices in a BLE communication coverage compensation methodaccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

In reference to FIG. 7, if symbol rate change is used in the state wherethe coverage range has been compensated in the course of BLEcommunication with a neighboring electronic device 702 (e.g., electronicdevice 102 of FIG. 1), the electronic device 701 (e.g., electronicdevice 101 of FIG. 1 and electronic device 201 of FIG. 2) may reduce thecompensated coverage range.

At step 710, the electronic devices 701 and 702 may be connected for asecond symbol rate (2M sym/s) in BLE communication.

At step 720, the neighboring electronic device 702 may transmit to theelectronic device 701 a symbol rate change request signal for changingfrom the second symbol rate to a first symbol rate.

For example, the neighboring electronic device 702 may request forsymbol rate change to the first symbol rate when detecting at least oneof the following events: detecting a request for transmitting orreceiving data less than a predetermined size, detecting location changeof the electronic device 701 moving toward an area where coverage rangeof the first symbol rate detecting a user input requesting for symbolrate change from the second to first symbol rate, detecting execution ofa predetermined application requiring communication at the first symbolrate, and detecting that the number of retransmissions has becomesmaller than a predetermined value or the reception sensitivity isgreater than a predetermined value after changing the TX power value forcoverage compensation.

At step 730, the electronic device 701 may transmit to the neighboringelectronic device 702 a symbol rate change response signal for acceptingthe symbol change to the first symbol rate. Although the description isdirected to the case where the neighboring electronic device 702requests to the electronic device 701 for symbol rate change at step720, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and it may includethe embodiment where the electronic device 701 transmits the symbol ratechange request signal to the neighboring electronic device 702 and thenthe neighboring electronic device 702 transmits the symbol rate changeresponse signal to the electronic device 701.

At step 740, the electronic devices 701 and 702 may perform symbol ratechange from the second symbol rate (i.e., 2M sym/s) to the first symbolrate (i.e., 1M sym/s).

At step 750, the electronic device 701 may determine the compensationvalue for reducing the coverage range that has already been compensatedfor the data rate change to the second symbol rate and nullify theapplied coverage compensation based on the compensation value. AlthoughFIG. 7 depicts that the electronic device 701 nullifies the coveragecompensation, it may also be possible for the neighboring electronicdevice 702 to perform the nullification operation of step 750 in thestate that the coverage range has been compensated according to a symbolrate change.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating Bluetooth communication coveragecompensation method of an electronic device according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

In reference to FIG. 8, the electronic device (e.g., electronic device101 of FIG. 1 and electronic device 201 of FIG. 2) may perform BLEcommunication with a neighboring electronic device (e.g., electronicdevice 102 of FIG. 1) at a second symbol rate (e.g., 2M sym/s) at step810. For example, the electronic device 101 may exchange BLE datapackets with the neighboring electronic device 102 through the BLEcommunication. Although the description is directed to the operation ofthe electronic device 101 as the main operation entity for convenienceof explanation, the coverage compensation necessity detection andcompensation value determination operations may be performed by aprocessor (e.g., processor 120 of FIG. 1 and AP 210 of FIG. 2) or a BTmodule (e.g., BT module 225 of FIG. 2) independently or cooperatively,and the communication channel establishment with the neighboringelectronic device and data communication may be performed by the BTmodule 225. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, theelectronic device 101 may have increased its TX power value configuredfor the first symbol rate (e.g., 1M sym/s) communication by applying thecompensation value determined for coverage compensation upon detectionof a symbol rate change event in the course of the BLE connection ordata transmission operation.

In the case that the TX power value has been increased for the secondsymbol rate BLE communication or coverage compensation, the electronicdevice 101 may determine at step 820 whether coverage compensationnullification is necessary. For example, the electronic device 101 maydetermine the coverage compensation nullification necessity whendetecting at least one of the following events: detecting a request fortransmitting or receiving data less than a predetermined size, detectinglocation change of the electronic device 101 moving toward an area wherecoverage reduction to the first symbol rate coverage range is used,detecting a user input requesting for symbol rate change from the secondto first symbol rate, detecting execution of a predetermined applicationrequiring communication at the first symbol rate, and detecting that thenumber of retransmissions becomes smaller than a predetermined value orthe reception sensitivity is greater than a predetermined value afterchanging the TX power value for coverage compensation.

If it is determined at step 820 that coverage compensation nullificationis necessary, the electronic device 101 may determine at step 830 thecompensation value for compensation nullification. For example, theelectronic device 101 may check the compensation value applied inswitching from the first symbol rate (i.e., 1M sym/s) communication tothe second symbol rate (i.e., 2M sym/s) communication for nullifying theapplied compensation or determine the compensation value based on thereduced amount of the coverage range or the sensitivity differencebetween the first symbol rate (i.e., 1M sym/s) and the second symbolrate (i.e., 2M sym/s).

If it is determined at step 820 that coverage compensation nullificationis not necessary, the procedure jumps to step 850, at which step theelectronic device 101 may control the radio communication circuit forthe first or second symbol rate communication and then determinerepetitively at step 860 whether the communication is terminated.

At step 840, the electronic device 101 may decrease the TX power valuebased on the compensation value. For example, the electronic device 101may decrease the TX power value by subtracting the compensation valuedetermined at step 830 from the preset TX power.

At step 850, the electronic device 101 may control the radiocommunication circuit for BLE communication with the neighboringelectronic device 102 at the first symbol rate or the second symbol rateby nullifying the compensation value.

At step 860, the electronic device 101 may determine whether thecommunication is terminated.

If it is determined at step 860 that the communication is terminated,the procedure ends; if it is determined at step 860 that thecommunication is not terminated, the procedure returns to step 820, atwhich step the electronic device 101 determines repetitively whethercoverage compensation nullification is necessary for the subsequentsteps (steps 820 to 860). For example, if the compensation value appliedfor coverage compensation is not nullified completely through thecompensation nullification operation, the electronic device 101 maydetermine to perform the coverage compensation nullification operationagain.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a BLE communication compensationmethod of an electronic device according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

In reference to FIG. 9, an electronic device (e.g., electronic device101 of FIG. 1 and electronic device 201 of FIG. 2) may receive anadvertising packet broadcast by a neighboring electronic device (e.g.,electronic device 102 of FIG. 1) at step 910. For example, theneighboring electronic device 102 may broadcast the advertising packetincluding a 1M sym/s or 2M sym/s communication request information.

At step 920, the electronic device 101 may determine whether theneighboring electronic device 102 supports a 2M sym/s communicationbased on the information included in the advertising packet. Forexample, the electronic device 101 may predict whether the next packetis transmitted at the symbol rate of 1M sym/s or 2M sym/s based on atleast part of the information (e.g., next advertising packet timeinformation, channel information, and symbol rate information) includedin the advertising packet.

If it is determined at step 920 that the neighboring electronic device102 supports the 2M sym/s communication, the electronic device 101 maydetermine at step 930 a coverage compensation value for the 2M sym/scommunication.

For example, the electronic device 101 may determine the sensitivitydifference between the two symbol rates of 1M sym/s and 2M sym/s as thecompensation and add the compensation value to the TX power to determinethe TX power value. The electronic device 101 may control the TX powerfor Bluetooth communication based on the compensation value.

If it is determined that the neighboring electronic device 102 supportsthe 2M sym/s communication, at step 940 the electronic device 101 mayrequest to the neighboring electronic device 102 for the 2M sym/scommunication. For example, the electronic device 101 may request to theneighboring electronic device 102 for 2M sym/s BLE communication.

If it is determined at step 920 that the neighboring electronic device102 does not support the 2M sym/s communication, the electronic device101 may request to the neighboring electronic device 102 for 1M sym/scommunication at step 940.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, step 930 maybe performed, but it is not limited to following step 940.

At step 950, the electronic device 101 may establish a BLE connectionwith the neighboring electronic device 102 for 1M sym/s communication or2M sym/s communication.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating coverage compensation-relatedoperation timings of an electronic device according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

In reference to FIG. 10, the electronic device (e.g., electronic device101 of FIG. 1 and electronic device 201 of FIG. 2) may detect a symbolrate change event or a compensation nullification event, determine acompensation value for coverage range extension or reduction, and changea data transmission power (e.g., increase/decreased TX power value)based on the compensation value. For example, the timing for changingdata transmission power may be, but is not limited to, at least one ofthe following: during BT data exchange, before symbol rate change, andafter symbol rate change.

For example, the electronic device 101 may establish a BLE channel witha neighboring electronic device (e.g., electronic device 102 of FIG. 1)for BLE data packet communication at a first symbol rate as denoted byreference number 1010. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, if the symbol rate change event is detected, the electronicdevice 101 may detect a necessity of coverage compensation or coveragecompensation nullification at timing A before modifying the BLE channelfor the second symbol rate communication as denoted by reference number1020, determine the compensation value, and adjust the TX power based onthe compensation value.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, after establishingthe BLE channel for the first symbol rate BLE communication as denotedby reference number 1010, the electronic device 101 may perform thecoverage compensation or coverage compensation nullification operationat timing B for data packet communication at the second symbol rate asdenoted by reference number 1020. According to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure, after establishing the BLE channel for the secondsymbol rate communication, the electronic device 101 may perform thecoverage compensation or coverage compensation nullification operationat timing C after establishing the BLE channel for the second symbolrate communication.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device 101 may make a data transmission power adjustmentdetermination at predetermined occasions independently or sequentiallyand, if it is determined that compensation or compensation nullificationis not necessary at each timing, determine whether compensation isnecessary at the next timing to re-determine the compensation value andcompensate the coverage range or nullify coverage compensation based onthe re-determined compensation value.

FIG. 11 is a graph illustrating waveforms of signals transmitted by anelectronic device at different symbol rates with different coverageranges according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

In reference to FIG. 11, an electronic device (e.g., electronic device101 of FIG. 1 and electronic device 201 of FIG. 2) may detect change ofthe coverage range according to symbol rate change and extend or reducethe coverage range based on the difference between the coverage rangesat the respective symbol rates to provide the BT communication serviceseamlessly even when the symbol rate is changed. Although thedescription is directed to the operation of the electronic device 101 asthe main operation entity for convenience of explanation, the coveragecompensation necessity detection and compensation value determinationoperations may be performed by a processor (e.g., processor 120 of FIG.1 and AP 210 of FIG. 2) or a BT module (e.g., 131 module 225 of FIG. 2)independently or cooperatively.

The BLE communication may be performed at one of two symbol rates: 1Msym/s and 2M sym/s. If a signal modulated with Gaussian frequency shiftkeying (GFSK) is transmitted at the one of both the symbol rates, onesymbol represents one bit. If the signal is transmitted at 1M sym/s,this means that 1 Megabits of data are transmitted per 1 second; if thesignal is transmitted at 2M sym/s, this means that 2 Megabits of dataare transmitted per second. A symbol may have one of 0-bit waveform and1-bit waveform.

As shown in FIG. 11, in the case of using the symbol rate of 1M sym/s,the electronic device 101 as a receiver may recognize 0-bit data at thetime point when the 0-bit waveform reception is completed in the firstduration (A) and then 1-bit data at the time point when the 1-bitwaveform reception is completed in the second duration (B). Accordingly,2 bits of data can be transmitted during the period between t1 and t0 inthe 1M sym/s communication. Meanwhile, in the case of using the symbolrate of 2M sym/s, the electronic device 101 as a receiver may recognize0-bit data at the time point when the 0-bit waveform reception iscompleted in the third duration (C) and then 1-bit data at the timepoint when the 1-bit waveform reception is completed in the fourthduration (D). Accordingly, 4 bits of data can be transmitted during theperiod between t1 and t0 in the 2M sym/s communication, which means thatthe data rate corresponding to the 2M sym/s is higher than the data ratecorresponding to the 1M sym/s. In the case where the length of the datawaveform used for recognizing the data transmitted at 2M sym/s isshortened, if the data propagation distance grows, the recognition ratedecreases; thus, the coverage range (or radius) decreases in comparisonwith the case of transmitting the data at 1M sym/s.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating coverage ranges for twosymbol rates according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

In reference to FIG. 12, two Bluetooth-enabled electronic devices 1220and 1250 may be located at certain points. The electronic device 1220may have a 1M sym/s communication coverage with a radius of b and a 2Msym/s communication coverage with a radius of a. In the followingdescription, it is assumed that the electronic device 1220 is fixed andthe other electronic device 1250 is mobile for convenience ofexplanation.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the mobileelectronic device 1250 is located within the 2M sym/s communicationcoverage (e.g., radius b) of the fixed electronic device 1220, it mayreceive the information broadcast by the electronic device 1220. Forexample, the fixed electronic device 1220 may broadcast BLE informationat the symbol rate of 1M sym/s. The mobile electronic device 1250 mayreceive the BLE information broadcast by the fixed electronic device1220 and present the BLE information to its user. The mobile electronicdevice 1250 may request to the fixed electronic device 1220 for datapacket exchange to acquire supplementary information (e.g., coupon andpayment information) according to a user input. The supplementaryinformation may exceed an agreed data limit and thus require 2M sym/sBluetooth communication rather than the 1M sym/s BLE communication.

In the case that the two electronic devices 1220 and 1250 arecommunicating through a 2M sym/s Bluetooth communication link, in orderfor the mobile electronic device 1250 to download the supplementaryinformation in response to a user's download command input, the mobileelectronic device 1250 has to move to a certain position 1240 within the2M sym/s coverage of the fixed electronic device 1220. If the mobileelectronic device 1250 is located at a certain position 1230 out of the2M sym/s communication coverage, it may not receive BLE communicationdata from the fixed electronic device 1220. If the mobile electronicdevice 1250 moves from a position within the radius “a” to a positionwithin the radius “b,” this may cause symbol rate change, which mayresult in communication breakdown between the electronic devices 1220and 1250. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if themobile electronic device 1250 determines to receive data at 2M sym/sbased on the BLE information transmitted by the fixed electronic device1220, the mobile electronic device 1250 may detect fulfillment of acondition for symbol rate change.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, if a symbolrate change condition that triggers coverage range reduction from radiusb to radius a is fulfilled, the mobile electronic device 1250 (e.g.,electronic device 101 of FIG. 1 and electronic device 201 of FIG. 2) maydetermine a compensation value for extending the coverage range beforeor after the 2M sym/s communication channel establishment or during the1M sym/s data packet transmission and increase the TX power based on thecompensation value to protect against BLE communication breakdown causedby symbol rate change.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, it may be helpfulfor the mobile electronic device 1250 to perform a high-speed datatransmission to the fixed electronic device 1220. If the fixedelectronic device 1220 accepts the request from the mobile electronicdevice 1250 for high-speed data transmission at a position out of the 2Msym/s communication coverage, this may cause a data loss problem; thus,the high-speed data transmission request is restricted within the radiusa.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in order for themobile electronic device 1250 to receive supplementary information(e.g., large data) or data at a high data rate or to switch to the 2Msym/s communication at a position out of the radius a, it is helpful toperform coverage compensation (e.g., TX power increase) to extend the 2Msym/s communication coverage from radius a to radius b, whereby themobile electronic device 1250 located at the position 1230 may performthe high-speed data communication with the fixed electronic device 1220.

According to an embodiment, if there is a symbol rate change from afirst symbol rate to a second symbol rate, a compensation value may bedetermined based on a coverage range at the second symbol rate. Morespecifically, the compensation value may be determined based on thecoverage range at the second symbol rate with respect to the coveragerange to the first symbol rate. For example, if the coverage range isexpected to be reduced without adjusting the TX power, then thecompensation value may be determined to increase the TX power (coveragecompensation); or alternatively, if the coverage range is expected to beincreased without adjusting the TX power, then the compensation valuemay be determined to reduce the TX power (compensation nullification).

FIG. 13 is a signal flow diagram illustrating signals flows between aprocessor and a Bluetooth module in a BLE communication coveragecompensation method of an electronic device according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

In reference to FIG. 13, the electronic device (e.g., electronic device101 of FIG. 1 and electronic device 201 of FIG. 2) may perform BLEcommunication with a neighboring electronic device (e.g., electronicdevice 102 of FIG. 1) at a first symbol rate by means of a BT module1312 at step 1310.

At step 1320, a processor 1311 (e.g., processor 120 of FIG. 1 or AP 210of FIG. 2) of the electronic device 101 may detect fulfilment of acondition for symbol rate change and notify the BT module 1312 of thisduring the BLC communication.

For example, the processor 1311 may determine that a condition forchanging the symbol rate is fulfilled when detecting one of thefollowing events: requesting for transmitting or receiving data greaterthan a predetermined size, requesting for transmitting or receiving dataless than a predetermined size after transmitting/receiving data greaterthan the predetermined size, execution of an application requiring adifferent symbol rate communication, receiving a user input requestingfor symbol rate change, requesting for decreasing or increasing a datarate, or requesting for supplementary data exchange after receivingadvertisement data.

At step 1330, the BT module 1312 may transmit to the neighboringelectronic device 102 a symbol rate change request. At step 1340, the BTmodule 1312 may receive a symbol rate change accept signal from theneighboring electronic device 102 and transfer the symbol rate changeaccept signal to the processor 1311.

At step 1350, the processor 1311 may determine whether to performcoverage compensation or compensation nullification operation for thesymbol rate change.

For example, the processor 1311 may determine the coverage compensationnecessity when detecting at least one of the following events: data ratechange to the second symbol rate, identifying that the second symbolrate BLE communication has a higher priority, identifying theretransmission rate in the first type symbol rate communication beforethe symbol rate change is greater than a predetermined value, oridentifying that the received signal strength measured in the first typesymbol rate communication is less than a predetermined value.

For example, the processor 1311 may determine the compensationnullification necessity when detecting at least one of the followingevents: requesting for transmitting or receiving data less than apredetermined size is received, identifying that the electronic devicemoves from a position within the second symbol rage communicationcoverage to a position within the first symbol rate communicationcoverage, requesting for changing from the first symbol rate to thesecond symbol rate is received, requesting for changing to the secondsymbol rate according to execution of a predetermined application, oridentifying that the retransmission rate is greater than a predeterminedvalue or the received signal strength measured is less than apredetermined value after changing the TX power value for coveragecompensation for the first symbol rate communication.

At step 1355, the processor 1311 may determine a compensation value forcoverage compensation or compensation nullification for use in a symbolrate change operation. For example, the processor 1311 may determine thesensitivity difference between the two symbol rates of 1M sym/s and 2Msym/s as the compensation value and add the compensation value to the TXpower to determine the TX power value. The processor 1311 may controlthe transmit power for Bluetooth communication based on the compensationvalue. For example, the electronic device 101 may add the compensationvalue of about 2 dBm for the case of change from 1M sym/s to 2M sym/sand subtract the compensation value of about 2 dBm for the case ofchange from 2M sym/s to 1M sym/s.

At step 1360, the processor 1311 may send a control signal to the BTmodule 1312 to change the TX power value based on the compensationvalue.

At step 1370, the BT module 1312 may adjust the data transmission powerfor BLE communication according to the control signal received from theprocessor 1311 and communicate data with the neighboring electronicdevice at the second symbol rate.

At step 1380, the processor 1311 may determine whether coveragecompensation or compensation nullification is necessary and, ifnecessary, perform the operations of steps 1355 to 1370 depending on thedetermination result.

In reference to FIG. 14, an electronic device 1401 (e.g., electronicdevice 101 of FIG. 1 or electronic device 201 of FIG. 2) may performcoverage compensation for symbol rate change during the BLEcommunication with a neighboring electronic device 1402 (e.g.,electronic device 102 of FIG. 1).

At step 1410, a processor 1411 (e.g. processor 120 of FIG. 1 and AP 210of FIG. 2) of the electronic device 1401 may generate a BLEcommunication channel establishment command indicative of configuring adefault symbol rate to a BT module 1412 (e.g., BT module 225 of FIG. 2)upon detection of an event triggering BLE communication.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the processor 1411may control to receive a Bluetooth signal from the neighboringelectronic device 1402 by means of the BT module 1412 or detect a userinput for requesting for Bluetooth communication channel establishmentor a signal generated along with the execution of an applicationrequiring a Bluetooth connection.

Here, the default symbol rate for Bluetooth communication may be set to,but is not limited to, 1M sym/s or 2M sym/s depending on the hardwareconfiguration of the electronic device.

At step 1420, the BT module 1412 may transmits a BLE connection requestsignal to the neighboring electronic device 1402 for BLE communicationat the default symbol rate. Upon receipt of the BLE connection requestsignal, the neighboring electronic device 1402 may check the BLEconnection request signal for the requested symbol rate by means of itsBluetooth module (not shown) and complete the BLE connection setup basedon the check result.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the defaultsymbol rate of the electronic device 1401 is 1M sym/s, the electronicdevice 1401 may request to the neighboring electronic device 1402 forBLE connection setup by means of the BT module 1412 and, if theneighboring electronic device 1402 is configured for the 1M sym/scommunication, a 1M sym/s communication channel is established betweenthe electronic devices 1401 and 1402. According to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure, if the default symbol rate is 1M sym/s, this meansthat 1 Megabits of data are transmitted per 1 second; if the defaultsymbol rate is 2M sym/s, this means that 2 Megabits of data aretransmitted per 1 second.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the defaultsymbol rate of the electronic device 1401 is 2M sym/s, the electronicdevice 1401 may request to the neighboring electronic device 1402 forconnection setup through a 2M sym/s BLE communication channel by meansof the BT module 1412 and, if the neighboring electronic device 1402supports 2M sym/s communication, a 2M sym/s communication channel may beestablished between the electronic devices 1401 and 1402.

At step 1430, the electronic devices 1401 and 1402 perform BLE datapacket communication at the default symbol rate. According to anembodiment of the present disclosure, step 1430 may be omitted; thusstep 1420 may be followed by step 1440.

At step 1440, the BT module 1412 of the electronic device 1401 maydetect fulfilment of a symbol rate change condition.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the BT module 1412may detects the fulfilment of a symbol rate change condition when theelectronic devices 1401 and 1402 support the 2M sym/s but arecommunicating at a symbol rate that is not the 2M sym/s.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the BT module 1412may detect the fulfilment of a symbol rate change condition whendetecting at least one of the following events: requesting fortransmission or reception of data larger than a predetermined size,detecting a user input for requesting for symbol rate change, executionof an application requiring symbol rate change, requesting for data rateincrease, or requesting for supplementary data exchange after receipt ofdata.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theoperation of step 1430 may be performed after step 1440, i.e., the BTmodule 1412 may be configured to perform the operation of step 1440 andthen the operation of step 1430.

At step 1450, the BT module 1412 of the electronic device 1401 maytransmit to the neighboring electronic device 1402 a symbol rate changerequest signal upon detection of the fulfillment of the symbol ratechange condition. For example, the electronic device 1401 may requestfor symbol rate change from the first to second symbol rate or inquireto the neighboring electronic device 1402 whether it supports symbolrate change from the first to the second symbol rate.

At step 1460, the BT module 1412 of the electronic device 1401 maydetermine whether coverage compensation or compensation nullification isused for the symbol rate change to the target symbol rate.

For example, the BT module 1412 may determine the coverage compensationnecessity when detecting at least one of the following events: changingthe symbol rate from 1M sym/s to 2M sym/s, detecting that theretransmission rate in the first type symbol rate (i.e., 1M sym/s)communication is greater than a predetermined value, and detecting thatthe received signal strength measured in the first type symbol rate(i.e., 1M sym/s) communication is less than a predetermined value.

For example, the BT module 1412 may determine the coverage compensationnullification necessity when detecting at least one of the followingevents: detecting a request for transmitting or receiving data less thana predetermined size, detecting location change of the electronic device1401 from the 2M sym/s communication coverage to the 1M sym/scommunication coverage, detecting a user input requesting for symbolrate change from the second to first symbol rate, detecting execution ofa predetermined application requiring communication at the first symbolrate after symbol rate change, or detecting that the number ofretransmissions becomes less than a predetermined value or the receptionsensitivity is greater than a predetermined value after changing the TXpower value for coverage compensation.

At step 1465, the BT module 1412 may determine the compensation valuefor coverage compensation or compensation nullification and send thecompensation value to the processor 1411. For example, the electronicdevice 1401 may determine the sensitivity difference between the twosymbol rates of 1M sym/s and 2M sym/s as the compensation value and add(or apply) or subtract (nullify) the compensation value to or from theTX power to determine the TX power value. The electronic device 1401 maycontrol the TX power for Bluetooth communication based on thecompensation value. For example, the electronic device 1401 may add acompensation value of about 2 dBm for the case of change from 1M sym/sto 2M sym/s and subtract a compensation value of about 2 dBm for thecase of change from 2M sym/s to 1M sym/s.

At step 1475, the processor 1411 of the electronic device 1401 maytransmit to the BT module 1412 a control signal indicative of changingthe TX power based on the compensation value, and the BT module 1412 mayadjust the TX power for BLE data communication with the neighboringelectronic device 1402 based on the control signal.

For example, in the case of changing the symbol rate from the 1 Msym/sto 2 Msym/s in the course of the BLE communication, the electronicdevice 1401 may increase the TX power by adding a power increment valueto the TX power configured for 1 Msym/s symbol rate communication.

At step 1480, the BT module 1412 of the electronic device 1401 maychange the symbol rate to perform data communication over the BLEcommunication link at the changed symbol rate.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the BTmodule 1412 transmits to the neighboring electronic device 1402 acoverage compensation request according to the symbol rate changedetermination. The neighboring electronic device 1402 may perform theoperations of steps 1460 and 1465 to change the symbol rate in responseto the coverage compensation request from the electronic device 1401.

At step 1490, the BT module 1412 may determine whether coveragecompensation or compensation nullification is necessary at apredetermined interval or in real time and perform repetitively theoperations of steps 1460 to 1480 according to the determination result.

Although the present disclosure has been described with variousembodiments, various changes and modifications may be suggested to oneskilled in the art. It is intended that the present disclosure encompasssuch changes and modifications as fall within the scope of the appendedclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device comprising: a housing; aradio communication circuit arranged in the housing and configured tosupport radio communication using a short range wireless communicationprotocol with a neighboring electronic device; a processor arranged inthe housing and electrically connected to the radio communicationcircuit; and a memory arranged in the housing and electrically connectedto the processor, the memory storing instructions that, when executed bythe processor, cause the processor to: perform a radio communication ata first symbol rate with the neighboring electronic device using a firsttransmit power applied to the radio communication circuit, change, whendetecting an event triggering a change from the first symbol rate to asecond symbol rate, the first symbol rate to the second symbol rate, andperform a radio communication at the second symbol rate with theneighboring electronic device using a second transmit power applied tothe radio communication circuit, wherein the first transmit power isdifferent from the second transmit power, wherein at least one of theradio communication at the first symbol rate or the radio communicationat the second symbol rate is a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) communication,wherein when the first symbol rate is less than the second symbol rate,the second transmit power corresponds to the first transmit powerincreased by a compensation value.
 2. The electronic device of claim 1,wherein the compensation value is an increased value according to adifference of a communication coverage range between the first symbolrate and the second symbol rate.
 3. The electronic device of claim 1,wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed bythe processor, cause the processor to perform, when detecting a need tochange from the second symbol rate to the first symbol rate after usingthe second transmit power, the radio communication at the first symbolrate using the first transmit power applied to the radio communicationcircuit according to a response to a change to the first symbol rate. 4.The electronic device of claim 3, wherein detecting the need to changefrom the second symbol rate to the first symbol rate comprises at leastone of: an event of requesting for transmitting or receiving data lessthan a predetermined size, an event of detecting a change of location ofthe electronic device moving toward a place requiring reduction of acoverage range, an event of detecting a user input requesting for achange to the first symbol rate after the change to the second symbolrate, an event of detecting execution of an application requiringcommunication at the first symbol rate after the change to the secondsymbol rate, an event of detecting that a data retransmission rate,measured after changing transmit power, is less than a predeterminedvalue, or an event of detecting that a reception sensibility is equal toor greater than a predetermined value.
 5. The electronic device of claim1, wherein, when the first symbol rate is greater than the second symbolrate, the second transmit power corresponds to the first transmit powerdecreased by a second compensation value.
 6. The electronic device ofclaim 5, wherein the compensation value is a decreased value accordingto a difference of a communication coverage range between the firstsymbol rate and the second symbol rate.
 7. The electronic device ofclaim 1, wherein the memory further stores instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the processor to: control the radiocommunication circuit to transmit a capability inquiry signal inquiringwhether the neighboring electronic device supports a radio communicationat the second symbol rate, receive, from the neighboring electronicdevice, an inquiry response signal indicative of support of the radiocommunication at the second symbol rate, and establish a communicationlink for communication with the neighboring electronic device at thesecond symbol rate upon receipt of the inquiry response signal.
 8. Theelectronic device of claim 1, wherein: the memory further storesinstructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processorto determine a coverage compensation necessity when detecting at leastone of: an event of requesting for a symbol rate change from the firstsymbol rate to the second symbol rate during the communication with theneighboring electronic device at the first symbol rate, an event ofdetecting that a data retransmission rate measured in the communicationat the first symbol rate is greater than a predetermined value, an eventof detecting that the second symbol rate has a high configurationpriority, or an event of detecting that a received signal strengthmeasured during the communication at the first symbol rate is less thana predetermined value.
 9. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein theevent of requesting for the symbol rate change to the second symbol ratecomprises at least one of: an event of requesting for transmitting orreceiving data greater than a predetermined size, an event of receivinga user input for changing from the first symbol rate to the secondsymbol rate, an event of detecting execution of an application requiringcommunication at the second symbol rate, an event of requesting forincrease of a data rate, or an event of requesting a supplementary dataexchange after receipt of data.
 10. The electronic device of claim 1,wherein: the first symbol rate is one of 1 mega-symbols per second (Msym/s) or 2 M sym/s, and the second symbol rate is another of 1 M sym/sor 2 M sym/s.
 11. A method of compensating a communication coverageregion in an electronic device, the method comprising: performing aradio communication at a first symbol rate with another electronicdevice using a first transmit power applied to a radio communicationcircuit; detecting an event triggering a change from the first symbolrate to a second symbol rate; changing a physical layer related to theradio communication from the first symbol rate to the second symbolrate; and performing a radio communication at the second symbol ratewith the other electronic device using a second transmit power appliedto the radio communication circuit, wherein the first transmit power isdifferent from the second transmit power, wherein at least one of theradio communication at the first symbol rate or the radio communicationat the second symbol rate is a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) radiocommunication, and wherein when the first symbol rate is less than thesecond symbol rate, the second transmit power corresponds to the firsttransmit power increased by a compensation value.
 12. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the compensation value is an increased value accordingto a difference of a communication coverage range between the firstsymbol rate and the second symbol rate.
 13. The method of claim 11,wherein, when the first symbol rate is greater than the second symbolrate, the second transmit power corresponds to the first transmit powerdecreased by a second compensation value.
 14. The method of claim 13,wherein the compensation value is a decreased value according to adifference of a communication coverage range between the first symbolrate and the second symbol rate.
 15. An electronic device, comprising: ahousing; a radio communication circuit arranged in the housing andconfigured to support Bluetooth low energy (BLE) communication using ashort range wireless communication protocol with a neighboringelectronic device; a processor arranged in the housing and electricallyconnected to the radio communication circuit; and a memory arranged inthe housing and electrically connected to the processor, the memorystoring instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause theprocessor to: perform a BLE communication at a first symbol rate of 1mega-symbols per second (M sym/s) with the neighboring electronic deviceusing a first transmit power applied to the radio communication circuit,change, when detecting an event triggering a change from the firstsymbol rate to a second symbol rate, the first symbol rate to the secondsymbol rate, and perform BLE communication at the second symbol rate of2M sym/s with the neighboring electronic device using a second transmitpower applied to the radio communication circuit, wherein the secondtransmit power corresponds to the first transmit power increased by acompensation value.